A Depressed Princess
by Luna Theos
Summary: Over the years, Serena has grown up and matured a lot since she first began as Sailor Moon. Sadly, the Scouts and Darien refuse to see it no matter what. Eventually, Serena gets sick and tired of it, and this is my take on what happens. Hope you enjoy, please don't flame me. Warning: mentions of self harm and depression
1. Chapter 1

I definitely don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't report me, this just came off the top of my head while I was stressing myself out over the course of Exam Week. Hope you enjoy!

I had been feeling depressed for a while now… what with how my life has been like up until now. At the beginning, it was only because I was bad at studying, and the constant insults and berating from my entire family. It hadn't been that bad, since I friends who I could turn to when I started feeling truly terrible about myself. However, after I took on the mantle as Sailor Moon, I had to stop speaking to them. I had thought that I would be able to turn to the other Scouts, but as the years passed I found that they didn't want to be my friends, they were only there to protect the Earth, not me.

The stress of being Sailor Moon combined with my flagging self confidence had been weighing on me for way too long. Having to purify and or kill living beings since I was fourteen years old? Not to mention finding the man I'm going to have to marry, have an existential crisis as I contemplate what that means, defeat a woman from our past lives who has the hots for said soul mate, be the leader to a group of girls who are supposed to help me defeat said lady, all the while still maintaining my life as a teenaged girl and not letting on that I'm actually a crime fighting super hero at night was a lot. And that was only during her first year as Sailor Moon.

It has been almost four years now, and still the girls who were supposed to help me were degrading and insulting me, nearly dehumanizing me to my face. I was starting to get tired of this, even my so-called 'soul mate,' agreed with them, telling me that I am not good enough for him, nor am I good enough as who I am. Maybe that's true, but do they really have to say it so often, do they have to point out her flaws so often?

My daughter has become my best friend, which had become an ongoing joke between the two of us. Talking about the little girl, she had just jumped on my bed and tackled me into a hug. Sure, we'd had a rough start, what with her having a crush on her father, but we had worked through it and now she was my closest person.

"Sweetheart, you know you shouldn't jump on the bed." I mock scold her before tackling her into a tickle fight. "The tickle monster might just wake up!" She giggled as I mercilessly tickled her into submission before I picked her up in a football hold and started running down the stairs. "And now we shall break our fast!" Rini was still giggling as I carried her down the stairs, my parents laughing as they took in our joy while Sammy rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help the small smile pulling at his lips.

The day was going okay so far, the only reason that I was still trying to live was for Rini. I want her to exist, to live the life that I couldn't where she didn't have to be concerned that her friends only liked her because they had to, that her boyfriend was only with her out of a sense of duty rather than actual love. I wanted her to live freely and happily, but that wouldn't happen if I died. Over my stint as Sailor Moon, I had grown up even if the girls and Darien hadn't noticed it.

"Serena, you should come with me!" Rini yelled at me, shocking me out of my reverie. I smiled patiently at her, and lightly tapped her nose with a finger. Honestly, I had been getting better at acting mature, and I wasn't as bad at being coordinated anymore, truly being Sailor Moon had helped. According to my mother, I seemed to glide across the ground these days, which I think truly showed how much I've grown in these few years. I nod my head and allow her to take the lead, before stopping dead as I realize where she had decided to go- the Crown Arcade, where my Scouts were supposed to meet. I sighed before creating my façade and entering behind Rini.

Only to stop dead as I heard what the girls and Darien were discussing in this unplanned meeting. "She's still such a disgrace, how the hell did she manage to become the Queen of the Silver Millenium?" Ray snarked, the other girls and Darien agreeing with her. "I mean, she can't even walk straight without crying. When will she grow up?"

"I agree, it's been four years, she should have matured by now." Amy stated as if it was a fact. Yeah right, you were fangirling over the Starlights not too long ago before they had to return to their planet with their princess. "How do you put up with her Darien?" Amy asked, turning towards the Terran prince.

"I don't, I've been having my own relationships without her noticing the entire time. She's just too immature the way she is right now, and I have a right to experience other relationships before I have to marry her and have Rini." Darien said flippantly, as if he were just stating a fact. This hurt me incredibly, he had been cheating on me this entire time? Was that why he had been late to so many dates? Had cancelled so many plans, told me not to visit him on certain days, everything, had been so he could have other relationships?

"Really, we should just kick her out of the Scouts. She's the princess, we don't need her and more often than not she just gets in the way!" Lita complained, her arms flailing slightly as she slumped back against the booth. Andrew looked angry at the words that were being said about his friend, and almost younger sister, and was about to confront him before he saw Rini and Serena standing there in the entry way. Serena brought up a shaking hand to her lips, telling him to stay quiet as they listened.

"I agree, and as the true leader of the Scouts, I say we put it to a vote." Mina announced, not noticing that most of the Arcade was now glaring at them and listening to what they were saying. "All who think we should kick Serena out of the group, say Aye." Mina told them, and with a resounding 'Aye' the motion was passed. The other patrons of the Arcade had started spreading the word, telling their friends about the news; if these girls and Darien weren't Serena's friends, they didn't have to be nice to them anymore.

To be quite honest, many of the people in Juuban hated the girls and Darien for their attitudes, Mina's constant bemoaning of how she couldn't find a boyfriend, and then flirting shamelessly with any remotely attractive male. Lita was honestly too quick to hitting for anyone to like her, and too strong since when she hit people it more often than not caused them to bruise badly at the very least. Ray was just to uptight and strict for people to like, her proud and argumentative nature distancing her from people. Amy was simply too much of a smart aleck, constantly trying to correct people when she didn't agree with them or trying to change their mind until they agreed with her.

And Darien- well, they had a list on why they didn't like Darien. First of all, his clothes, who dresses like that? Every outfit people had seen him in were things not even the blind would be seen in! Second of all, he had bullied Serena since she was fourteen and accidentally bumped into him on her way to school, which really? It's a girl that's about three years younger than you, it's not that painful, and she's the one who ended up falling onto the cement! There was more, but you get the gist. He was terrible!

However, I still felt like I was about to cry, they were my friends, my closest friends in my past life, and in my future as Neo Queen Serenity, this was truly the darkest betrayal and most hurtful thing they could do to me. Rini looked like she was about to cry as well, and I was suddenly scared, what would happen now? I pulled out my communicator and called Trista as fast as I could. I guess my urgent tone caught the attention of the- these traitors since they turned towards me while I ran to the crying Rini. "Trista, I need you here now!" I commanded as quickly as soon as I could. I picked up Rini and ran into the park, where I knew that Pluto could meet us without the threat of civilians seeing us. "Meet us in the park, it's a true emergency." I quickly got her confirmation before I saw her open the portal to the gates, in which I quickly jumped into, Rini still in my arms.

"Trista, please, keep Rini here." I pleaded as I saw the traitors running after me. "They- They lied to me Pluto, they have betrayed me. I cannot trust them, I hereby instate the outer Scouts as my protectors until further notice as is my right as the ruler of the Silver Millenium, Princess Serenity." I called out quickly and with authority. As the traitors closed in on the gate, I stared them in the eyes as I analyzed them.

"Serena, please don't do this. You know you can't beat us, just come back and listen to us before we have to use force." Darien said with arrogance as he pomp as he stared at me, with Trista and Rini behind me. I had to shake my head as I stared at them, with their self righteousness was so distasteful I couldn't look at them.

"Wow, just wow. I honestly thought you were all smarter than this, Selene you all call me the idiot!" I allow the ice that had imbedded itself to my very core to seep into my voice, I see the traitors shiver as my voice changes the atmosphere of the park, everything suddenly seeming so much darker, and despite it being day it felt as if the park were suddenly shrouded in shadows. "I am sorry, daughter, but this time they have betrayed not only me, but the future as well." Rini had tears in her eyes but nodded in agreement. "You will remain in the Gate with Sailor Pluto until we can ascertain the existence of the Silver Millennium." I told her, stepping into the Gate, hugging her one last time before Trista had to close it.

"What have you done?" Ray screeched, my god was she always this annoying? I sigh once again, I was so tired of this routine we complete every time we meet altogether. I start to remove my Sailor Scouts materials, the Luna Pen, the Broach with the Silver Imperium Crystal removed, the Moon Wand, all of it I removed from my pocket space and simply drop it on the ground. I remove the Star Locket from around my neck and walk to stop in front of Darien, then place it in his hand, allowing my sleeve to pull back slightly so he can see some of the cuts on my wrists. Yes, I had been cutting for a while now- to punish myself for never being good enough, for anyone.

"We're over." I told him softly, not allowing my heart break to be heard. "Go ahead and sample all those other women you want, I will not hold you back any longer. I free you, Darien Shields, from your past life's promise to me."

I quietly looked away and continued to the other Scouts stopping in front of Venus. "I hereby quit the Sailor Scouts, you will not be hearing from me, nor will you contact me about Scout business." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before opening my silvery blue eyes to the world, the golden moon flaring on my forehead as I become Princess Serenity once more. "You are all hereby relieved of your duty as my protectors, you have dishonoured not only yourselves but your planets Princesses of the Inner Planets. The outer Scouts, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn shall be taking over as my protectors until further notice."

I de-transformed and the outer Scouts appeared in front of me before each taking a knee in front of me, saying 'Princess,' to greet me. "Raise your heads, my faithful warriors." I told them smiling slightly at their formality when addressing. "Do you accept the responsibility as my protectors?" I asked them.

With a quick look between each other, at once the three of them nodded and said "Yes, my Princess." I could not repress my smile any longer, though it did have a tinge of sadness in it as I thought about why I had to do this in the first place. "Come, we shall depart." I told them before I left, them tailing me while the Inner Scouts gaped at what had just happened.

It was time to start getting serious.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So, I've been getting a lot of comments about how I should continue 'A Depressed Princess,' but I've been really stuck - I'm not usually this depressing, honestly! This was just exam angst, but I really want to make some kind of continuation so I made this. I don't think it's as good as the first chapter, but I hope you enjoy it!

PS I just made a poll of who Serena should end up with, so if you have an opinion or suggestion pls look at that.

Serena almost made it all the way to her house before she collapsed, her… exchange, with the Inners finally taking its toll on her. She turned around and realized that only Neptune was behind her in the form of Michelle. Michelle caught her before she hit the ground and smiled gently at her, before heaving her up and propping Serena against her own body as they made their way back to the Tsukino household.

"The others had something they had to do, but we didn't want to leave you along so I stayed." Michelle explained lightly, reassuring Serena greatly. She understood, truly she did, however she couldn't help but wonder how she would explain everything to her mother - after all, she'd never mentioned knowing the famous violinist Michelle Kaiou, and she could barely stand on her feet.

Finally, they reached the door to Serena's house, and before Serena could stop her Michelle rang the doorbell. Ikuko answered the door and gasped - not because of the famous person in front of her (though later she would question it), but because of the state her daughter was in. She saw the bandages around Serena's arms as her sleeves had ridden up, she had dark bags under her eyes with smudges that she assumed to be makeup, and Ikuko couldn't help feeling like a failure for not noticing these things earlier.

"What happened?!" Ikuko nearly screamed, she hadn't - she hadn't noticed how tired her daughter was, she hadn't noticed Serena's slowly declining appetite, she hadn't noticed anything! What kind of mother was she? She quickly ushered both Michelle and Serena inside, helping Michelle lay Serena on the couch before she bustled about frantically, making tea, grabbing a thermometer, calling her husband Ken to tell him what was going on, etc. Michelle grabbed some blankets from the linen closet (how she knew where it was, Ikuko didn't know,) and laid it on Serena.

"Her so-called 'friends,'" Michelle said the word with so much venom, Ikuko found it hard to believe this was the same serene girl she'd seen perform on television. "Happened. I didn't know her before she befriended them, however I've seen her slowly die inside from all the negativity those girls spew at her." Michelle practically growled as she tucked the blanket around Serena, who'd fallen asleep under Michelle's mothering.

"What? But - but they were all outcasts before she met them!" Ikuko exclaimed, though after she said it, she realized how much sense that made - they were all outcasts _because_ they were so negative.

"Agreed," Michelle said, startling Ikuko as she hadn't noticed that she'd voiced that thought aloud. "Why didn't you say anything about them before, if I may ask? It's not your fault your daughter is like this, but I would like to hear your take on this manner." Michelle said in a much calmer manner.

"At first, I'd thought it was strange, the way they treated Serena whenever they came over, but- but, Serena always said that was just their personalities, that they were just like that sometimes." Ikuko sighed, tears spilling from her eyes as she reflected. "I thought- I thought that it was a stage, that they'd stopped doing that years ago, but now that I think about it, they just stopped doing it in front of me." She started wiping at her eyes, trying to get the words out of her throat. She pressed on, and Michelle listened quietly "They were always - not quite rude, but… abrasive? I think? Whenever I was around, and they'd try to get me to leave as soon as possible whenever they came. Serena never spoke badly about them though, and I thought that maybe, some of their good habits might rub off on Serena. And it did! It did, but they never - they never stopped, and maybe I was stupid, but I thought that they were trying to motivate her to be even better!"

Michelle started rubbing small circles on the older woman's back as she cried, handing her tissues in the pauses between her story. Michelle understood where the elder woman was coming from, however if everything she was saying was true, then this made quite the disturbing picture - if they could hide blatant bullying as encouragement and teenage angst from such a young age, what else had they done?

She hadn't realized how long they'd been talking, but the door opened and Sammy entered to see his mother crying, his elder sister laying dead to the world on the couch, and a stranger (he didn't watch classical concerts,) sitting there. "Who died?" Sammy asked bluntly, making the assumption that the woman was an official or something.

"No one," The strange woman said, but just as Sammy was about to sigh in relief she continued "yet." Sammy's eyes widened as he started looking for a weapon - she'd sounded extremely scary and threatening as she said the last word. "Not you." She said quickly as she saw his terrified expression. "Just the ones who did this to your sister." She said, making Sammy look closer at his sister. Then he saw what his mother had noticed when she saw Michelle at the door and he gained a dark expression as well.

"When, where, and can I help?" The fourteen year old said extremely seriously. "I know people who are more than willing to kill for Serena." He had a dead serious expression, though the scandalised expression on Ikuko's face made Michelle reconsider taking Sammy up on his offer - at least in front of his mother.

"Sammy!" Ikuko exclaimed, though her next statement threw both youngsters off. "At least ask your father if he'd like to help before you ask your friends, he'd been meaning to practice with his guns for a while now." Ikuko scolded. Before the two children could respond, Serena woke up.

"Ah, I need to go do my homework." Serena said, getting up, her eyes glazed and she started walking around, stumbling through the house as she tried to do her routine even as tired as she was. This alone spoke volumes of how used to - well, this, that she was. She was still mumbling though, and as they listened, they realised how deep this truly ran. "-bring Rini to school on time, make sure to get to school, then training, study for the test next Wednesday -"

"No sweetheart, you are going to sleep." Ikuko said sternly, though her face was red and blotchy from tears. Serena startled and she seemed to become more aware of her surroundings, and looked around confused.

"But Mama, I have to go. If I don't, I'll fall behind again." Serena said with a frown, making Michelle and Sammy share a look - this wasn't anything like the Serena that they knew and - as much as Sammy hated to admit - loved. "And the girls need me-" Serena started but Michelle cut her off.

"No they don't, nor do you need them, Sere." She seemed to have a silent conversation with Serena, an argument that Serena apparently lost if the way she visibly deflated was anything to go by. "They dug their graves, they can all go lie in them now. I for one know that no one will be going to the Temple anytime soon, nor will they be anywhere near you if they know what's good for them."

"Agreed." Sammy said, crossing his arms and nodding to affirm his own statement. "I don't know what they did, but I do know that no one ever wanted to be near them anyway - they just wanted to see why Serena liked them so much." Secretly, Sammy was already planning to call up Molly and Melvin, they'd been talking about how much they missed Serena and now he had the perfect reason to reconnect the childhood friends.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with the three of them bustling around Serena, forcing her to rest for at least the day, and if they had their way she wouldn't be going to school for the next few days. It was quite obvious that she was sick, something even the strict Ms. Haruna had noticed as time passed - it was concerning, since the usually bubbly student was slowly losing all her energy, almost like one of the monsters that had plagued them in the last few years was attacking her constantly. Oh, if only they knew - she was facing them every night, on top of her regular life, which she now had work even harder for - afterall, it was nearly time to apply for university, something the other girls hadn't thought of much, as they believed that they would just become Serenity's guardians full time soon enough.

Before Ken Tsukino entered, he had the strange urge to polish his gun collection and double check his stores of ammunition. Making a note of his paternal instincts kicking in, he opened the door and saw his family, as well as the celebrity violinist who was dating the champion race car driver. What was her name? Mitchy? Monica? Whatever, but the question was why was she in his house, and why was she helping his wife and son hold his daughter in a cocoon of blankets?

The group all looked at him, and he felt a migraine building behind his eyes before, in all seriousness, he rubbed a hand over his face, fatigue forcing him to shed his usual happy smile. "I don't want to know, just tell me who I'm going to kill?"

With the Scouts and Darien(minus Neptune)

"Just what in the name of Selene were you thinking?" Saturn demanded in the darkest tone the girls had ever heard from the soft spoken girl. Her dark violet eyes had an even darker glint in them as she glared at the now regular girls. It was even more menacing than that of Mistress Nine, her voice held true to power - they even saw a grim reaper behind her as she spoke.

Ray, ever the overconfident and self righteous girl stood tall despite everything inside her wanting to get away as soon as possible and spoke first. "She was a hindrance. We don't need her to fight - we fought without her on the moon, and we'll fight without her here." Ray said presumptuously, obviously not understanding what Princess Serenity announced when she released them of their duties.

"How?" Pluto asked just as coldly, her timeless eyes staring at them with no emotion, her voice dead. "The Princess has released you from service, you can no longer call on the power of the moon to help you." Pluto scoffed at them. She'd arrived soon after Serenity had left, with the rest of the Outers minus Neptune, who they'd sent to care for her while they dealt with these disgraces.

"Well obviously she didn't do it right, we still have our transformation pens!" Amy yelled, pulling out her own pen as if it proved her point. "She can't even do that right!" She huffed and stuck her nose in the air.

Uranus blatantly laughed at their idiocy, truly she was the representative of Mercury? The most advanced planet besides the moon? Hah! Oh, how her people must be rolling in their graves. "So? Those artifacts will be recalled as soon as she finds your replacements, you didn't think that you were the only reincarnations on this planet, did you?" Uranus mocked them.

"But I'm the Prince of Earth-" Darien started, trying to make the point that he could give them powers, but was interrupted by Hotaru - a mocking smile gracing her lips and the aura of death surrounding her as she spoke darkly.

"Ah, but you were never trained in using your powers correctly, nor would you bestow the same amount of power - the Moon's Scouts have had generations to augment their powers, to nurse the seed of power they were given into what it is now, while you - you would barely be able to understand how to create such power, the magic is so ancient." Dark smiles appeared on Uranus and Pluto's faces as well, and Pluto continued on Hotaru's thought without prompting.

"You don't even know where your crystal is, and now that Serenity is unwilling to help you, you will never be able to unlock it." She smirked, knowing from the timeline that her statement was true. She didn't truly reveal the future, though she made it no secret that she knew something Darien didn't. "I doubt that you can do more than what you already can now that Serenity is no longer at your side. You, with your limited capabilities as they are will never truly be able to go against even the scouts as they were, even less so now that Serena and the Silver Imperium Crystal have left your presence."

"Then we just need to take the Crystal from her." Mina announced in her whiny voice, disgusting the true Scouts with her tone.

"How?" Uranus asked the obvious question. After all, the Outer Scouts had just heard their new ambition, and knew how to counter all of them. "Now that you don't have your powers, you're all merely girls. You might have some fighting techniques," Uranus looked at Lita at this as if saying ' _that's all you're good for,'_ "or maybe, you're a bit powerful in the public," she looked at Mina meaningfully, obviously making a jab at her role as Sailor V, a large joke among the Outers. After all, she was just making herself a joke, making it seem as though what they did was all fiction. "But we have both that, and economic sway." Uranus finished.

Pluto continued where Uranus left off, "Uranus is a famous race car driver, and has been showing good will to all sorts of charities throughout her career, as well as being a Pride Ambassador with her status as a transgendered person, and her relationship with Neptune. Neptune is a Pride Ambassador as well because of this, and she is well known in the upper class because of her status as an internationally renowned violinist. I myself am a well known University student studying in the top university in Japan, majoring in Physics and I'm the top student of the school. Saturn is the daughter of a renowned scientist who recently passed away, giving her the sympathy of the elder generation, as well as all the funds he generated. Add that on top of our superior fighting skills and teamwork, and we have you quite beat." Pluto finished her explanation of exactly why none of what they said would work.

"Besides, we would kill you before we allowed you near the Princess again." Saturn said quite clearly, Uranus cracking her knuckles menacingly beside her as they stared into the eyes of the dismissed Scouts with no small amount of hate left out. They were Serenity's guardians now, at least until the new scouts were activated, and they wouldn't fail her like these ingrates did.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm thinking about bringing back the Shintennou. Any thoughts? I'll make a poll. I already have a poll of who Serena should end up with, so please go check it out - it's on my profile.

The small town of Juuban had quickly spread the word - those girls Serena usually hangs out with had kicked her out of their friend group and were now free game. Her boyfriend was a cheating creep, and the guys who'd been flirting with Serena started to gather makeshift weapons ready to beat the man who dared to spit on the kind and thoughtful girl's love. Darien and the girls were going to have a rude awakening - no one in this town liked them, and Darien hadn't noticed it, but all of his 'side chicks,' had either been terrible people or from out of town. The girls, they were going to have a realization of a completely different level - they were going to see how it felt to be the victim, to feel powerless as people they believed like them tore them apart.

Serena was done defending them from the sharks, from now they had to sink or swim on their own.

Thinking about her future, Serena decided it would be a good idea to notify Luna and Artemis of these new developments - Serena had demanded that the two of them spend some time away from the scouts to figure things out. After all, she knew how shocking it was to meet your future child when you hadn't thought that far yet (Rini). However, circumstances changed and now she'd have to debrief them.

That night, she summoned her advisers to her and told them everything, trying to remain as objective as possible so as to allow them to draw their own conclusions and so she could tell where their true loyalties lay. Luna had been more partial to Serena's side, while Artemis, who'd always been extremely close to Mina decided that he would listen to the disgraced Scouts side of the story. He found it hard to believe that the girl he'd been with for more than 5 years could have turned out this badly, and Luna decided to go with him as moral support.

If you looked at the people of Juuban, you'd think they were preparing for war. In a way, they were - a war against the rotten girls that had invaded their town and systematically broke their little ball of sunshine. Sammy and Ken had called an unofficial town meeting to discuss the girls and their behavior in the last few years - three of them were still considered outsiders, and the fourth might as well be with how isolated she was from the rest of the community. The landlord of Darien Shield's building had also brought up his transgressions against the girl, showing security footage of the man bringing home random girls to his apartment at all times of the night, sometimes more than one. Seeing that, Ken was glad that Serena had never gone that far with the boy - he recognized symptoms of STIs in several of the girls that Darien brought with him.

From there the town started their plans, the first stage was to be the schools. The girls were all in universities now, all nearby (Serena and the scouts knew that this was so that they could fight youma more easily, while the citizens of Juuban thought that this was to hurt Serena more often - in a way, it was.) Therefore, they decided that they would expose some of the secrets that the girls and Darien had thought they were keeping so well. Honestly, if you want to keep secrets don't discuss them loudly in a crowded arcade, especially when there are hundreds of little ears willing to tell their parents and friends everything they hear.

It started small. A whisper here, a murmur there, ' _isn't she the one who did Reika's boyfriend last week?' 'Wasn't he the rich man who goes after underage girls?' 'Didn't she get kicked out of class for arguing with the teacher?'_ On and on, little things that were whispered when the girls or Darien were around, all of them true.

Mina had been flirting with Andrew for three months, but he'd kept telling her that he had a girlfriend, even kissing said girlfriend in front of Mina to try to get her to stop. However, it had only made Mina more determined to have him, and so she asked him to go out for drinks with the rest of the scouts and her after the arcade closed for the night. He'd agreed, not seeing any problems with it but the next morning, he woke up without any memories of the night before, though he was naked and so was Mina beside him. Reika had walked in and broken up with him then and there. Andrew had been so sad for a while after that, and the Arcade had suffered for it - Serena had decided to work there for a while to let Andrew recover a bit. Andrew and Reika still weren't talking because of it though.

Darien - well, that was what happened, wasn't it? He'd started dating a fourteen-year-old while he was eighteen himself, something that many of the adults around them had been displeased about. Especially when just a few weeks before, he'd been taunting her for not being smart, calling the names that weren't very nice, or appropriate for a young girl like her to hear. Mothers had decided that they'd make a coalition to protect their children from him, telling their kids to stay away from the strange man wearing bright colors. Of course, this coalition had been started by Ikuko Tsukino as the chair - after all, she was extremely affected and knew the signs from her experience with Serena of what it would look like.

Lita and this was a big one, had been kicked out of school. Again. This time, the professors had refused to allow Amy to answer any of the questions and had taken away marks on the test when Amy had written her opinion of matters rather than their political significance in a political science course. The professor, who used to allow it, had mentioned several times that he only wanted facts for this test, that this wasn't an opinion piece and they were to write out the historical significance of the events. Lita had taken it as the professor bullying Amy and had started arguing with him about her mark, which had quickly led to her threatening him as she couldn't keep up with his words, using terms she didn't immediately understand. In the end, she'd been publicly arrested, injuring three officers and five innocents as she fought against the arrest.

The others weren't doing well either, the Hikawa Shrine that Rei's family had had for generations was going bankrupt from lack of people coming again. Before it hadn't been so bad, they'd been breaking even, then making more than ever when Rei's powers were there - she'd been selling charms and predictions on the side so that she could make her more lavish purchases, but even her side business wasn't doing well anymore. Rei's grandfather had been ashamed of what his granddaughter had become, and had stopped putting as much effort into the shrine as he'd used to. Before, Serena would encourage others to visit the shrine every so often, to donate a little change and donated quite a bit herself. That all stopped - everyone who ever came now only left hateful messages and graffiti, they were all done with Rei's high and mighty act.

Amy was suffering as well - her teachers, even the ones who'd liked her, had been getting more and more irritated as they tried to teach their lessons as she'd always try to correct them on things - very few times they were actually wrong, however, Amy was always self-righteous and tried to prove everything. In the maths lessons, she tried to make proofs that the professor was using an inefficient method, or they were completely wrong. She didn't even allow others in her lessons to give answers, raising her hand and screaming the answer before the teacher could even fully ask the question. Obviously, this didn't bode well for her - if all the professors hate you, how will you get a good job? The girl hadn't been thinking, obviously, as she tried to outshine everyone else in her lessons - and when your classes held up to 150 students including her, that was a lot of enemies to make.

Overall, the people of Juuban were making life hell for Serena's ex-friends. While they were doing this, Serena was deciding what she wanted to do - what she had to do, her next steps. The future had been thrown apart, her destiny was now on shambles - what was she going to do now, now she didn't know what she had to work towards, no goals to aim for. She had her outer scouts now, protecting her until she could find proper replacements for the inner scouts.

Serena was often found sleeping now, whenever she wasn't in bed or studying - in the case of an attack, she would leave, fight the monsters with the outers, then go back to her home and go back to sleep. Dry, rinse and repeat - every day.

The cycle eventually broke with her starting to work at the Crown arcade after Andrew and Reika broke up, in which she realized that she wasn't the only victim of these people - she wasn't the only person who was suffering. She started turning her life around - Amy wanted her to be smarter? Then she'd prove her intelligence and study harder. Trista was happy to help her and was smarter than Amy would ever be and much more patient in her teaching methods as well. Mina and Rei wanted her to be more polished and poise? Michelle had no issues with teaching her the manners of the upper class and had always been much better with diplomacy than Mina and Rei. Lita thought she was useless? First of all - she was the one who finished all the monsters they fought and had beaten Galaxia on her own while they were too busy swooning over the Starlights. She was still going to work out with Haruka though, after all, there is always someone stronger than you. Pride before the fall, and all that.

The next morning, Serena woke up feeling different. She didn't look in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, nor did she pay attention to her surroundings. She merely got up and started going through the motions of life, brushing her hair, packing her bag, changing into her uniform, etc. She also packed for work - Andrew was still out of it from being drugged by Mina, and was still drowning in self-loathing. She didn't notice her mother's gaping at her, nor did she notice that her father and brother were looking at her strangely. She merely grabbed her breakfast, ate it sedately, and then left for school, quietly saying goodbye before she was out the door.

She didn't pay attention as she walked sedately to school - it was still early, and she didn't think much about the attention she gathered. She was currently a student of Celeste University, the same one that Trista was studying at right now. Trista had vouched for her, as had many of the teachers in Juuban High School. They hadn't even accepted Amy, which Serena now took as a blessing as it meant that she didn't have to stay in the same vicinity as the stuck-up girl.

When she finally did see herself, she had to stop and stare for a bit. Her hair… her hair had turned the pearlescent white it'd been on the moon. Serena was shocked - that wasn't supposed to happen so fast, was it? She didn't have any frame of reference, but just yesterday it'd been her usual sunny blonde, hadn't it? Could this… could this be in direct correlation between what happened with the Inners? Serena took a deep breath and continued walking. She didn't need the Inner Scouts. Not as they are, maybe after they'd been replaced but not now. She had the Outers and was strong enough to walk away from those toxic relationships. Because that was what they were - toxic relationships, she just hadn't realized it until she'd left them. Is this how abused partners felt? This new sense of freedom, but also the feeling of confusion, since it was all so new and confusing, and different. Should she feel happy to be free? Sad at the loss of companionship? Was there something wrong with her that made them feel this way towards her?

Serena shoved those thoughts away in favor of going to her class - forensic psychology. Probably not the best, but maybe it would help her understand the Inners a bit a better if she took a scientific and completely unbiased view of what happened.


End file.
